1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a method and system for routing hardcopy mail. More particular, the present invention relates to a method and system for electronically associating a mailing address with a unique identifier that is affixable to hardcopy mail.
2. Background Art
In today's business world, extensive travel is a common part of employment. Specifically, workers are now required to become increasingly mobile to perform their job functions. When mobile, however, the workers are faced with the issue of receiving mail on a consistent and accurate basis. For example, if a worker travels three weeks a month, he/she must often make arrangements to receive mail. If the mail is not received, the worker could be presented with various problems such as bills going unpaid.
Oftentimes, the process of changing a mailing address is both time consuming and aggravating. Specifically, to change a mailing address, one must typically contact each sender individually to report the change. This includes senders of both household mail such as utility companies, credit card companies, etc., as well as senders of personal mail such as friends and family. As such, it may take a worker several days to change the mailing address with all applicable senders. This is generally not practical since the worker could re-locate again before the change has been made with all parties.
Heretofore, attempts have been made at improving mail distribution and routing by providing various computerized systems. Such systems however, fail to provide an efficient mechanism for a recipient to change his/her mailing address with multiple senders. For example, the recipient might want to receive mail at one address on one day and at a second address on another day. This capability could be especially valuable in today's business environment where workers rarely spend an appreciable amount of time in any one location. Moreover, no existing system provides a way for a mailing address to be changed with multiple senders from one central location. As indicated above, an address change is typically accomplished by individually contacting each sender.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a method and system for routing hardcopy mail. Specifically, there exists a need for a recipient to be assigned a unique identifier. Moreover, a need exists for a mailing address to be associated with the identifier. A further need exists for a sender to be able to obtain the identifier and affix it to a piece of hardcopy mail. Thus, when the identifier is read, the corresponding piece of hardcopy mail can be routed to the recipient at the associated address.